Becoming a halfway vegan could curb climate change, scientists claim
Scientists claim that eating 50 percent vegan can combat climate change.
A new study suggests that swapping half your meat and dairy products for plant-based alternatives over the next 27 years could reduce emissions by 31 percent.
The findings are based on the agriculture and land use required to raise livestock and grow crops.
However, previous research shows that China alone produces more emissions than meat and dairy products combined, suggesting that personal behavior may not be enough to save the planet.
A new study has suggested that swapping half your meat and dairy products for plant-based alternatives would cut emissions by 31 percent over the next 27 years
A meat-heavy diet endangers our health and that of the planet, as livestock farming destroys habitats on a massive scale and generates greenhouse gases.
A 2021 study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that meat and dairy are responsible for 57 percent of food-related greenhouse gas emissions.
The new studypublished in the journal Nature Communications, echoes the previous research and notes that 50 percent veganism would reduce agriculture and land use.
Study co-author Eva Wollenberg from the University of Vermont said: ‘We need much more than ‘Meatless Mondays’ to reduce the global greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change – and this study shows us a way forward.
‘Plant-based meat is not just a new food product, but a crucial opportunity to achieve food security and climate goals while achieving global health and biodiversity goals.
The authors found that a 50 percent replacement scenario would significantly reduce the increasing impact of food systems on the natural environment by 2050. Pictured above are meatless burgers
‘Such transitions are challenging and require a range of technological innovations and policy interventions.’
The team looked at global food security and the environmental impacts of large-scale plant-based meat and milk consumption, taking into account the complexity of food systems.
The authors found that a 50 percent replacement scenario would substantially reduce the increasing impact of food systems on the natural environment by 2050.
These impacts include a 12 percent decline in global agricultural land, nitrogen inputs to cropland at nearly half of projections, a 10 percent decline in global water use, and a 31 percent decline in greenhouse gas emissions.
While many countries rely on meat and dairy as important food sources, researchers say their work found that global malnutrition would decline to 3.6 percent, reducing the number of undernourished people by 31 million.
According to the study, the impacts may vary by region due to differences in population size and eating habits, unequal agricultural productivity and participation in international trade in agricultural commodities.
The most significant impacts on agricultural resource use are in China and on environmental outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America.
These regional differences can also be used to design better interventions.
“The food sector produces roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions – and is notoriously difficult to decarbonize,” says Wollenberg.
‘Given the magnitude of the benefits we show from replacing meat with plant-based alternatives for global sustainability, climate action and human health, this research provides important food for thought for consumers, food producers and policy makers.’